REAL PEOPLE, REAL ISSUES

September 15, 2010

It’s All Hip-Hop’s Fault

More than any other genre of music, hip-hop is said to be responsible
for the societal issues of the Millennial generation. Rappers’
glorification of life in the street is partly blamed for the high
incarceration rate of young Black men. Misogynistic lyrics are seen as
the culprit for Black women being reduced to bitches and hos in every
day life. And the over-sexualized images of women in videos are
designated as the reason that young women believe their booty has more
value than their brain. It’s all hip-hop’s fault.

But maybe hip-hop is undeserving of its constant criticisms.

Today jazz is revered as one of the greatest genres of all times.
However, just as rock and roll was coined the “devil’s music,” just as
hip-hop is considered not to be music at all, jazz was also originally
detested. It was a well-known fact that musicians of the 1940s and
1950s were heavily involved in drugs. Much of their life was spent
playing music in nightclubs where drug life was rife. Some of the
legendary jazz artists—Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Charlie
Parker—struggled with known drug addictions. The difference is that, as
influential as jazz was, it was not seen as the cause of everything
wrong with the baby boomer generation.

The musicians our parents idolized did not lead exemplary lives.
James Brown—women abuser. Ray Charles—heroin addict. Marvin
Gaye—notorious womanizer. Etta James—heroin addict. But their music was
respected without the assassination attacks on the art form, or their
character, that many hip-hop artists receive.

As gruesome and vulgar as the lyrics of hip-hop can be—both
necessarily and unnecessarily—hip-hop is poetry. Like every other genre,
hip-hop is a form of artistic expression. The story may be unfamiliar
to some, but it remains nonetheless real.

The influence of hip-hop culture on youth is undeniable. In the same
way that rock and roll was associated with promoting sex and drugs,
hip-hop is correlated with everything wrong with the Millennial
generation. As easily influenced as children are, blaming the actions of
rappers, their lyrics, and the image they portray for what is wrong
with our youth, is a cop-out on addressing the root of some of the
problems.

Hip-hop is often blamed when education, public policy, poverty, and
the de-intellectualization of American culture should be held
accountable. Hip-hop is the mirror in which American culture, Black
middle-class American culture especially, detests the reflection that it
sees. Be it in the pursuit of profit or class superiority, the message
that the defamation of hip-hop at the hands of elders sends to youth is
crystal clear. Black youth culture is disposable, and therefore, Black
youth are disposable.

Parents have a far greater responsibility to raise their children
then a rapper who half the time doesn’t even believe in, or live, the
rhymes he spits. Indeed, some of the elements of the music are
problematic. In particular, I take issue with the false image several of
them present to the world. Case in point: Lil Jon, Plies, and others
who all hold higher education degrees, but never rap about the
importance of education. Yet I still cannot fairly attribute the
societal ills that plague Black youth to hip-hop culture . CONTINUE READING...

Comments

It’s All Hip-Hop’s Fault

More than any other genre of music, hip-hop is said to be responsible
for the societal issues of the Millennial generation. Rappers’
glorification of life in the street is partly blamed for the high
incarceration rate of young Black men. Misogynistic lyrics are seen as
the culprit for Black women being reduced to bitches and hos in every
day life. And the over-sexualized images of women in videos are
designated as the reason that young women believe their booty has more
value than their brain. It’s all hip-hop’s fault.

But maybe hip-hop is undeserving of its constant criticisms.

Today jazz is revered as one of the greatest genres of all times.
However, just as rock and roll was coined the “devil’s music,” just as
hip-hop is considered not to be music at all, jazz was also originally
detested. It was a well-known fact that musicians of the 1940s and
1950s were heavily involved in drugs. Much of their life was spent
playing music in nightclubs where drug life was rife. Some of the
legendary jazz artists—Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Charlie
Parker—struggled with known drug addictions. The difference is that, as
influential as jazz was, it was not seen as the cause of everything
wrong with the baby boomer generation.

The musicians our parents idolized did not lead exemplary lives.
James Brown—women abuser. Ray Charles—heroin addict. Marvin
Gaye—notorious womanizer. Etta James—heroin addict. But their music was
respected without the assassination attacks on the art form, or their
character, that many hip-hop artists receive.

As gruesome and vulgar as the lyrics of hip-hop can be—both
necessarily and unnecessarily—hip-hop is poetry. Like every other genre,
hip-hop is a form of artistic expression. The story may be unfamiliar
to some, but it remains nonetheless real.

The influence of hip-hop culture on youth is undeniable. In the same
way that rock and roll was associated with promoting sex and drugs,
hip-hop is correlated with everything wrong with the Millennial
generation. As easily influenced as children are, blaming the actions of
rappers, their lyrics, and the image they portray for what is wrong
with our youth, is a cop-out on addressing the root of some of the
problems.

Hip-hop is often blamed when education, public policy, poverty, and
the de-intellectualization of American culture should be held
accountable. Hip-hop is the mirror in which American culture, Black
middle-class American culture especially, detests the reflection that it
sees. Be it in the pursuit of profit or class superiority, the message
that the defamation of hip-hop at the hands of elders sends to youth is
crystal clear. Black youth culture is disposable, and therefore, Black
youth are disposable.

Parents have a far greater responsibility to raise their children
then a rapper who half the time doesn’t even believe in, or live, the
rhymes he spits. Indeed, some of the elements of the music are
problematic. In particular, I take issue with the false image several of
them present to the world. Case in point: Lil Jon, Plies, and others
who all hold higher education degrees, but never rap about the
importance of education. Yet I still cannot fairly attribute the
societal ills that plague Black youth to hip-hop culture . CONTINUE READING...

September 2012

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